From the Publisher

Computer security expert and reformed hacker Diana Highsmith has not ventured beyond her home for more than a year—not since that fateful climbing vacation in Switzerland took Daniel’s life. Haunted by the sound of Daniel’s cries echoing across the gorge as he fell, Diana cannot stop thinking about the life they’ll never have—grief that has transformed her into a recluse.

Diana doesn’t have to shut herself off com­pletely from the world, though; she and Daniel’s best friend run a thriving Internet security company. From her home, in her pajamas, Diana assesses security breaches, both potential and real, and offers clients a way to protect themselves from hackers—the kind of disruptions Diana herself used to create. Once Diana has a game plan she is able to meet with clients in OtherWorld, an Internet-based platform, using Nadia, an avatar she created for herself. Diana knows she’ll have to rejoin the “real world” eventually, but right now a few steps from her door each morning is all she can handle.

When Diana’s sister goes missing, however, she is forced to do the impossible: brave both the outside world and her own personal demons to find her sister. As one step outside leads to another, Diana soon discovers that she is following a trail fraught with danger—and uncovering a web of deceit and betrayal, both online and real-life, that threatens not only her sister’s life, but her own.

Publishers Weekly

At the start of this gripping suspense novel from Gussin (The Test), two out of three identical girl triplets, nine-year-olds Sammie and Alex Monroe, disappear from a movie theater at a suburban Detroit mall after leaving their sister, Jackie, and a cousin, who go to the theater next door. An FBI team quickly steps in and works closely with the triplets’ sports commentator father, Scott, and his African-American wife, Katie, a physician who investigates child sexual abuse. The red herrings multiply as Scott and Katie try to recall who would want to harm them by taking their daughters. The fear and anguish the Monroes feel as they search for their missing children will resonate with many readers, but others may have trouble with some clumsy prose (“The evil he’d seen in human beings defied logic and exceeded the worst horrors that most people could not even dream”).

I bring this up because in times past I would have read the first two books before picking up the latest H. Terrell Griffin Matt Royal mystery Blood Island.  But I didn’t and so I can’t really comment on the series or any backstory I might have missed.  But luckily the book functions as a stand alone story.

Enough discursive introduction then, what about the book?  It was an entertaining mystery/action story with some unique plot lines.

The central character is obviously Matt Royal a semi-retired trial lawyer living in Longboat Key, Florida. Royals high pressure legal career burned him out and cost him his marriage, but he ended up with enough money to live in Longboat and do pro-bono legal and investigative work.  He is also an ex-special forces Vietnam veteran.

Like so many mysteries the story kicks of with a dead body.  This one found in local bird sanctuary.  Royal doesn’t think much of it at first, but when his ex-wife Laura turns to him for help in find her step-daughter, Peggy, things get complicated.  Soon Laura is missing too, the violence escalates and the body count grows.  With far too many unexplained coincidences Royal finds himself in the center of a dangerous plot.

FYI, what follows includes plot spoilers for those of you who don’t want to read those sort of things.

The story can be broken up into thirds.  The first third introduces the characters and the threads at the heart of the mystery.  The second half focuses on Royal’s search for his ex-wife and her step-daughter.  And the last third focuses on the unraveling of the larger conspiracy that ties all the sub-plots together.

The book does best when it is focused on Royal and his investigations.  Royal is a laid back, and sardonic tough guy, who has the training to get ugly when he needs to.  He realizes he screwed up and ruined his life by focusing on his career to the detriment of everything else.  That realization makes him humble and aware that he needs to keep his personal demons at bay if he is to be happy or at least content.  As PW noted: “Griffin’s breezy first-person narration brings the likable Matt, with his killer reflexes and wry sense of humor, vividly to life.”

The story starts off slow and builds the tension as the danger Royal is facing grows.  The first two thirds of the book work well this way.  The last third is in some ways an awkward addition. What weaves the plots dealing with Laura and Peggy into a larger whole is a conspiracy involving a mentally unstable religious figure who runs bordellos and is planning to blow up churches to start an anti-Muslim backlash.

This unique hook connects Peggy’s kidnapping to the other bodies and sets up Royal’s adventures surrounding Blood Island.  But the religious/terrorism element also forces Griffin – or at least he chose – to wrap up the threat to those churches. This part of the book is well done for the most part, but it gives the effect of having almost two endings: one when Royal rescues Peggy and finds out what happened to Laura and one when the terrorist threat storyline is resolved.

This aspect of the plot didn’t ruin the book or anything but I thought it made the story a little less tight then it otherwise would have been.  It seems to me that Griffin wanted to add a plot line about religious fundamentalists, and used it well to build a conspiracy, but didn’t quite know how to wrap it up.

This nit-pick aside, Blood Island was a entertaining and quick read.  Matt Royal is an interesting character and Griffin does a nice job of mixing character, suspense, and action.  Even it I haven’t read the whole series, I feel confident in saying that those who enjoy mystery/suspense with a South Florida twist will enjoy past, present and future Matt Royal novels.